Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 11:20:54 -0400
From: "Dr. Alan Sherman" <sherman>

Subject: Ishan Weerakoon (CMSC) wins UMBC Chess Championship

Congratulations to Ishan Weerakoon (CMSC Grad Student) for becoming
the 93-94 UMBC Chess Champion by winning the UMBC Chess Championship,
held Oct 22-23 in Susquehanna Hall.  The tournament was organized by
Daniel Byrum (CMSC undergrad).

On Friday evening the four-round swiss-system tournament got off to a
surprising start with two first-round upsets: favorite USCF Master
Craig Jones (CMSC undergrad) blundered away the game to Mack Smith
(CMSC grad) and Chris Todd (chem undergrad) drew Weerakoon.  Each game
was played at the rate of 30 moves in 90 mins, followed by sudden
death in 30 mins.  The title was settled in the last round when
Weerakoon, with 2.5 points and the White pieces, faced defending
champion and USCF expert Kimani Stancil (physics undergrad), with 3
points.  After a tense struggle arising from Alekhine's defense (1. e4
Nf6), former Sri Lankan Chess Champion Weerakoon won the match
finishing with 3.5 points.  Jones, Stancil, and USCF expert Manish
Singh (EE grad), tied for second place with 3 points each.

In December, UMBC will send two teams to the Pan-American
Intercollegiate Team Chess Tournament, held in Delaund, Florida.  As a
result of this weekend's event, the top UMBC team will consist of
Jones, Weerakoon, Stancil, and Singh.